Thursday, June 28, 2012

navasana revisited, and laundry

Nice to practice today before the heat set in..not so nice to blog at home with the a/c off (I refuse to use it unless there is a really bad heat wave..plus it sounds like a loud subway car most of the time)

My nosebleeds have returned this summer. ugh. They plagued me for years, and the past winter and spring have been a complete reprieve from them. Might be time to start using the neti again. Happened during practice today, which freaked me out a bit. You also know you are dedicated ashtangi when you hope you can finish your surya before the nosebleed becomes apparent.

Today's highlight was navasana...that "hold the legs" tip that my teacher gave me really works. At first, I thought holding the legs meant sort of pulling them closer to my upper body, which is a LOT of work. I would end up with tired arms and legs, and no clue how to keep the legs straight without holding them. I just realized, however, that if I sort of pull/push my legs towards my pelvis (anchoring my thigh bones into their sockets), then I have more stability, my very weak and sleepy inner thigh muscles wake up a bit, and lo and behold...straight leg navasana is possible. I discovered this Wednesday, and was very happy that I was able to repeat it today. I even managed the last one without having to hold my legs. Cumulative effect, perhaps? The other interesting thing is that it seems to make uttana padasana easier. No real effect on UHP though, yet.

Lastly, laundry.

My laundry practice: rinse any soaking wet item in the sink at the shala first-with soap if possible, before packing it up, and then pre-soak with white vinegar and HOT water before hand washing. No smelly detergents are needed. 2-3 capfuls of vinegar in with the clothes (I soak them in a little bowl in the sink..so I do 2 batches in this per day.) and 10-20 min. Then I hand wash like normal. Magic.

When I finally go to the laundromat (a more frequent event than before I started practicing yoga), I add some color safe bleach to and that takes away any residual smells (those synthetic quick dry towels are the hardest to deal with).

Oh, and if you sweat a lot, like I do...wear as much cotton as possible.






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